[1] HSV Hamburg won their first title by defeating Barcelona Intersport 30–29 in the final.

[3] The two remaining teams from Pot 1 and 4 will play a knock-out match, the winner will go into the group stage.

[4][5] HC Dinamo-Minsk and Beşiktaş J.K. played a playoff series to determine a participant for the group stage.

The draw for the group stage took place at the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf in Vienna on 6 July 2012 at 11:00 local time.

Clubs from the same pot or the same association could not be drawn into the same group, except the wild card tournament winner, which did not enjoy any protection.

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the final four.